The State Board of Elections has decided to keep former President Donald Trump on the Illinois primary ballot. Federal prosecutors have asked for a five-year prison sentence for Tim Mapes. Formula One Racing could be the next big racing event to take over the Chicago streets.
Homeownership isn’t just valuable for you personally. It also helps build wealth for your family, your community, and even society at large, according to former Chicago Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara. “When you have those kinds of assets in your life, it gives you way more options and way more ability to care intergenerationally for the well being of your family and to invest in your community,” said Novara, who is now the Vice President of Community Impact at the Chicago Community Trust. Un...
Staff and students are starting the grieving process for the two teenagers shot and killed Friday as they left their downtown school. The board that oversees Illinois’ elections is scheduled to decide today whether Donald Trump’s name should be printed on ballots for the March primary. The State of Illinois is partnering with Google to streamline access to children’s behavioral health services through a new online portal called BEACON.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker won’t support a ceasefire in Gaza until all the hostages being held by Hamas are released. Leaders from a contingent of Chicago-area unions joined to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. An error in the government’s formula for how much financial aid a student gets for college is causing a lot of uncertainty for Illinois families.
“Money intersects every area of our life,” said financial psychologist Brad Klontz. In the first part of our conversation with Klontz, we talked about how to reframe your narrative around finances. The way we think about money affects how we interact with the world around us. In this episode, host Erin Allen and Klontz discuss how to approach money in relationships. This episode originally aired on January 11, 2023.
A state hearing officer found the courts – and not the State Board of Elections – should decide whether former President Donald Trump will be on the state’s upcoming primary ballot. The Illinois-based think tank EveryLibrary Institute and editorial site Book Riot conducted a survey to learn what parents across the country think of school libraries. American bald eagle sightings are becoming more common in Chicagoland.
Naperville city officials are scrapping a proposal to recruit residents to house migrants. Chicago Public Schools says it's trying to do a better job tracking laptops. Two teenagers were shot and killed in the Loop.
Brad Klontz thinks a lot about his personal narrative around money. He’s a financial psychologist and a professor at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business. After encountering bad financial advice on TikTok, he started building a following. “I realized there was a lot of terrible information out there,” Klontz said. “I got really passionate about putting out accurate information.” In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Klontz about the stories we tell ourselves about our finances. ...
The Chicago Board of Education gave the go-ahead for 49 charter schools to keep operating, but their decision was not without controversy. Some Chicago neighborhoods are seeing a growing share of residents earn college degrees, own their homes and make more money. For decades his voice was heard introducing Soul Train .. but Joe Cobb is suing to get compensated for his work.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants Illinois to open migrant centers outside Chicago. It’s going to be another foggy commute tonight – and the National Weather Service says to prepare for low visibility. This year’s cicada emergence could be the largest known anywhere, according to University of Illinois data.
Robberies are up. WBEZ’s Alden Loury looked at data from last year and found that robberies were at a six-year peak, and armed robberies led the surge. What do those numbers mean? And what causes someone to pick up a weapon and rob somebody? In this episode, Rundown podcast host Erin Allen talks with Loury and criminologist David Olson, who co-directs Loyola University’s Center for Criminal Justice, about the causes of crime, strategies to reduce it and the effectiveness of “tough on crime” laws...
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is pushing back on City Council members calling for more oversight on city spending. Johnson also introduced an electrification ordinance that aims to set indoor emission standards as part of a broader effort to tackle climate change. The Illinois State Board of Education passed a comprehensive plan to improve how reading is taught across Illinois.
City Council called off a planned vote on whether Chicago Police can contest firings and long suspensions in private arbitration. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration has picked two local vendors to provide food to migrants in city shelters after delays in the bidding process. Domestic violence victims and their advocates are asking Illinois lawmakers to pass Karina’s Bill.
Gigi Lira never imagined she’d make it as a working artist. Then, she started doing manicures on the side at Beauty Bar, a hair salon-inspired bar in West Town. She frequently worked queer events and did nails for LGBTQ+ Chicagoans who didn’t feel comfortable at other salons. Fast forward, and she has her own salon. “It’s so important to me to provide a safe, nurturing place that doesn’t just tolerate you,” Lira said. In this episode, Lira talks about creating an inclusive, nonjudgmental space f...
The Obama Foundation is donating half-a-million dollars to girls who live on Chicago’s South and West Sides. The Chicago City Council will consider a couple of big ticket items at its first meeting of the year today. Dense fog is blanketing the Chicago area this morning.
A new study from the University of Illinois shows one in 10 college students is food insecure. A man suspected of shooting and killing eight people in Joliet fatally shot himself Monday after a confrontation at a gas station with law enforcement officials in Texas. Finalists in Chicago's snowplow naming contest include Casimir Plowaski and Taylor Drift.
On any given night in Chicago, you’ve got options when it comes to seeing live music. Dozens and dozens of options. The Chicago Show Calendar is an Instagram account and weekly newsletter that tries to give you all the information on every show in the city, big names and small. “I do think the calendar gives people a place – like someone starting out – a place to get their name on a calendar when normally it would cost money to do that elsewhere,” said Caroline Patton, who created the calendar. ...
The Chicago City Council is weighing new regulations for dollar stores. A Cook County state’s attorney candidate is calling on his Democratic primary opponent to return a campaign donation from a former prosecutor tied to alleged torture. It’s been 51 years since the U-S Supreme Court granted nationwide abortion access, and anti-abortion advocates say a lot has changed since then.
A Chicago City Council vote on a resolution supporting a ceasefire in Gaza will be postponed. The onslaught of bad weather around Chicago continues. A Boston-based solar energy company is making Chicago its second home.
Pegasus Theatre wraps up its 37th Young Playwrights Festival this week. This year’s festival features one-act plays by four Chicago high school students who worked with teachers to submit their work. Professional actors perform the winning scripts. “It was really empowering,” said Grant Parris, one of the playwrights. He and another winner, Alexander Loaiza, submitted their plays to the festival last year and are now freshmen in college. In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Parris and Loaiz...
The Illinois Supreme Court could rule next month on whether the odor of cannabis is enough to search a vehicle. Many Chicagoans suffer from the “winter blues” during the city’s colder months, but experts say there are a few ways to combat feeling down when the weather is dreary. A state lawmaker from northwest Indiana has introduced a bill that would create a sports commission to look into luring a professional sports team – namely – the Chicago Bears.
Nearly 2,000 migrants must leave Chicago shelters by February 1st under new deadlines on shelter stays. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson today publicly addressed reports of unsanitary conditions at city-run migrant shelters after new details emerged this week. Bitter cold returns to the Chicago area tonight; expect high temperatures in the teens both Saturday and Sunday.
Today, we accomplished three things: 1) Mourned some of the Chicago restaurants we lost last year, 2) Rejoiced in some of the delicious new spots we’ve recently gained, and 3) Talked about the local food trends to watch for in 2024. To do that we were joined by Michael Nagrant, the food critic and writer behind The Hunger , a Substack site with local, anonymously-procured food reviews, and Brenda Storch, a food writer, Chicago Eater contributor and the creator of the food and culture site LaVita...
Chicago City Council members are weighing whether there should be more limits on having jobs outside of their aldermanic duties. A candidate in the Democratic primary to replace Cook County state’s attorney Kim Foxx is raising more funds than the person endorsed by the party. Today is the first day of Chicago Restaurant Week.
The White Sox could be on the move. A federal judge has approved a more than $12 million dollar class action settlement for people in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood who were affected after a former coal-fired power plant imploded. The University of Illinois is freezing in-state tuition at all three of its universities.
The Illinois State Police released a guidebook late last year for officers interacting with unhoused individuals. The goal is to offer up-to-date resources and to bring dignity and humanity to those encounters for “the new face of homelessness,” according to Rev. Dwight Ford, the director of Project Now , a community action organization that helped develop the guidebook . “The new face of homelessness is a woman that works everyday, with a good cell phone and a nice SUV, but those are the paraph...
Keeping up with the huge increase in migrant students is a challenge – even for Chicago schools that are used to teaching migrants. . Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is defending the actions it took to address unsanitary conditions at a Pilsen migrant shelter. The Shriver Center on Poverty Law is marking the anniversary of America’s “War on Poverty” with a summit today.
Preparations for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago later this year continue to move forward. New recommendations are out from a working group dedicated to preserving local news in Illinois. A federal jury in Chicago convicted six men in the murder of local rapper FBG Duck
Chef Jessica Walks First started helping in the kitchen as a little kid, and she grew up cooking for her community in Chicago’s American Indian Center. Now, she runs Ketapanen Kitchen, a catering business with a focus on Indigenous foods. “Ketapanen” is an expression of love in the Menominee language. “If my community is eating my food, I want them to have great ingredients that are familiar to them and feel like home to them,” Walks First said. She wants to expose as many Chicagoans as possible...
A new analysis shows an area five times the size of Chicago’s Millennium Park could be used to build affordable and public housing in the city. A lawmaker introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of electronic tracking systems to determine someone’s location without their consent. Officials in at least one central Illinois county are preparing in case migrants are dropped off in their area.
